Cannot find Microsoft Word installed on your system

[Goldiew]

Hi,

Wonder if anyone can help...

I just tried to generate my printed documentation in RoboHelp and everytime I try I get the error message 'Cannot find Microsoft Word installed on your system'.

It is installed, and when I go to Tools > Options > Tool Locations you can see it is pointing to the right location (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE).

This is the first project I have done with RoboHelp 7.0 on Vista- does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

[Peter Grainge]

OK. The security warning about macros is caused when the setting is High. I have not known it cause a problem when set to Medium or Low.

Post back when you are ready. Wonder if any of the others have tried these steps?

[Guest]

Hello all,

Sorry to harp on, but I still believe that the problem has been caused by a third party addin which is affecting the API call from RH to Word.

If things are working well, and suddenly a problem occurs, there must have been a change somewhere. We have found over the years that MS upgrades/patches and others have created problems with RH.

Nita, the restore will not cause major issues unless you have installed new software between the point you restore to and now. You can create a restore point for today that will give you the opportunity to restore back again

Start\all programs\accessories\system tools\system restore

When you choose to restore, a calander will be displayed in the next window. All bold dates are restore points. Choose the date prior to the problem arising, and follow the instructions. This will disable any updates etc. between then and now. When any updates are reported, make a note of the name, and let them install one at a time, checking RH as you go.

I know it sounds like a lengthy process, but if anyone can identify a rogue update it would be useful.

Depending on individual machine configurations, not all are affected in the same way, hence not everyone has the problem.

Oops, sorry to go on.

Brian


Before you start, you could check the updates and hotfixes : Control panel\add remove programs and tick the show updates check box at the top.find those that were installed around the time the problem occurred.

[Peter Grainge]

Might be quicker to just look in Word | Tools | Templates and Add-Ins and report what Add-Ins are loaded.

[Bosch_pb]

Hmmm,

Word Menu:Tools > Templates and Add-ins > Tab:Templates

I've got 2 RoboHelp add-ins in my list. One selected, the other not. Perhaps because I re-installed RH7 once?

The only difference in the names is that the file extension on the unselected add-in is in uppercase:

(checked) RoboHook.wll
(unchecked) RoboHook.WLL

What's the suggestion?: Selct both? Remove one?

[Bosch_pb]

OK - here is a complete list of my Global templates and add-ins:

x means box checked, o means box unchecked

x addon_01.dot
x ebptools.dot
o atxBosch.dot
o MLCustom.Dot
o Default.deu
x Default.eng
x rhd.dot
x RoboHook.wll
o RoboHook.WLL


My colleague, (for whom RH7 generates printed documentation without problem) has the following. Note: NEITHER RoboHook.wll NOR RoboHook.WLL in his list.


x addon_01.dot
x ebptools.dot
o atxBosch.dot
o MLCustom.Dot
o Default.deu
x Default.eng
x rhd.dot

I don't know if rhd.dot has anything to do with it, but it does begin with "R"

[Guest]

It could still have been caused by an update/hotfix.

Brian

[Peter Grainge]

That is perfectly normal and don't mess with what you see there.

What we are looking for is add-ins that are nothing to do with RH. For example Acrobat installs an add-in. If that is there and ticked, try again after clearing the check box. Same for any other add-ins.

Also look in Help | About | Disabled Items. Anything there?

[Peter Grainge]

Not saying otherwise Brian. Just that this route is easier!

On the basis it can do no harm try turning off everything except RoboHook.wll.

If that doesn't get you anywhere, then go to Control Panel | AddRemove and make sure Show Updates is ticked. Audit those against your colleagues machine. List the numbers and check them against on Microsoft's database for which ones are Word related.

Sorry it's all a pain but there's no other route I can see.

[Guest]

I know you all may think I've finally cracked, but could someone try updating their printer driver from the manufacturer's web site?

[Peter Grainge]

Would everyone suffering from this problem please go to this page on my site and post here whether or not they have the two registry entries shown and whether or not the second one showed the absolute (full) path. If the second one did not show the absolute path and you amended it, has that fixed the problem?

http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/printing/findword.htm

Please post what you find here.

[Bosch_pb]

Hi Peter,
I have all the entries in your screenshots at http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/printing/findword.htm

The only difference I can see is that my WXP is German, so I see "(standard)" where you see "(default)", but as my successfully-Word-generating colleagues have the same, I think we can rule this out as a cause.

The path to Winword.exe is absolute, and works when pasted into the "Run" window.

kind regards,
pb

[Guest]

Hi all,

Just another thought, I get them from time to time.

Has anyone experienced a slow down in Word itself firing up? If there is a problem with Word, it would be worse starting from an API call from RH. Could you check your temp folder? your username\Local Settings\Temp

Word mave have left hundreds of temp files behind. If you clear the folder down (the files are useless) does it make any difference?

The resason I mentioned the printer driver previously, is that it can have the same affect in Word if it is not up-to-date.

Brian

[MadobeM]

Bosch_pb, or anyone else with this issue on XP with Word 2003:

Could you please check the following registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\InstallRoot C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\RoboHelp\7.00\Components\12 (the following two entries (among others) should exist under this key)
CurrentWord C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\Winword.exe
Word11 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE

[nitabeck]

MadobeM,

Regarding the first registry entry you asked me to check, my registry matches yours.

Regarding the second registry entry you asked about, why are you having me look under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\RoboHelp\7.00..." (since the problem is not with RoboHelp for Word) instead of "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\RoboHTML..." (since the problem is with RoboHelp for HTML)?

Nonetheless, I looked in ...\RoboHelp\7.00\Components\12. My registry entry matches yours.

Then I looked around in ...\RoboHTML\7.00\Components. There is no \12 folder to look in. I looked in all the other folders in \Components and found no reference whatsoever to Word.

Nita

[Bosch_pb]

Reply to MadobeM -thanks for the help.

quote:

---

Could you please check the following registry entries:

---

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\InstallRoot C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\
Yes, got that

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\RoboHelp\7.00\Components\12\...

CurrentWord C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\Winword.exe Yes, got that

Word11 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE Yes, got that


I'm assuming these entries are not case-sensitive.
pb

[MadobeM]

Oh well, it was just a shot in the dark. I found references to these registry entries in these two technotes:
http://www.adobe.com/go/rb_49383
http://www.adobe.com/go/rb_61483

They're for older versions of RH, but since I have no problem generating Printed Documentation (Win XP, RH 7, Word 2003) I poked around in my registry to see what the entries should be on a correctly operating machine.

Sorry, but I'm all out of ideas now. 😞

[Bosch_pb]

MadobeM - are you, by any chance, working my tech support case #0180428973 ?
I'm still getting no email updates from it.

Regarding Knowledge Base Article #69633 (re. RHx5). Link
I have tried reinstalling RH 7, of course, but was not prompted to check for updates. That patch is incorportated into RH7, I guess?

Thanks and kind regards

[Peter Grainge]

Bosch_pb

I know that somewhere within Adobe this is being looked at. I certainly would not apply a patch for one version against another version unless specifically told to by Adobe. I am not sure whether MadobeM is an Adobe person or someone who has just adopted that username.

[Bosch_pb]

Here's something funny though:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\RoboHelp\7.00\Components\12\ has a key/value defined as follows:

DLLPath = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 7\RoboHELP\Comm.dll

I don't have that DLL. I only have the following files matching *com*.dll in that directory. (Date: 23.09.2007 is also way before my installation, but I guess these are the original dates).

23.09.2007 11:19 180.224 CommCore.dll
23.09.2007 11:13 29.184 CompiledHtmlFile.dll
23.09.2007 11:25 69.632 ExternalComponent.dll
23.09.2007 08:33 694.272 FnpCommsSoap.dll
23.09.2007 11:25 98.304 PComm.dll
23.09.2007 11:29 688.128 psCompress.dll
23.09.2007 11:25 81.920 RComm.dll
23.09.2007 11:29 249.856 RHComAdd.DLL
23.09.2007 11:26 147.456 RHComp.dll
23.09.2007 11:18 880.640 WHComp.DLL


Bummer! I've just checked with my colleague across the way. He has the exact same registry entry, and is missing the exact same file. But his RH7/WXP/Word2003 generation works :-(

Just a long shot...

[Peter Grainge]

This thread is now so long it is getting unwieldy. Did you check at one point in Word | Help | About | Disabled items? Anything disabled?

[Bosch_pb]

Yup, checked that and replied a little while back. Nothing disabled.
Thanks anyway.

[MadobeM]

Hi Bosch_pb,

Working your tech support case? No, I do not work for Adobe. I do a lot of tech support for others though, so sometimes I try to lend a hand.

Like your colleague, I too have that reference to Comm.dll but no such file. And as I said, I have no problem creating Printed Documentation.

I'm sure that that Knowledge Base Article #69633 has nothing to do with your situation. The original release of RH X5 didn't have support for Word 2003 - it was added in a later update. RH 7 is of course fully compatible with Word 2003.

[Peter Grainge]

Goldiew
Bosch_pb
nitabeck
Wkugelman

Can you each confirm that at some point prior to you hitting this problem with RH7, you have had X5 on the same PC working with Word 2003.

This problem is proving difficult to crack and it would help to know if that is a common factor.

[Bosch_pb]

quote:

---

Can you each confirm that at some point prior to you hitting this problem with RH7, you have had X5 on the same PC working with Word 2003.

---

(Sorry for the delay. Oct 3rd is a public holiday in Germany.)

Not exactly:

I had RH 6 working (i.e. generating Word 2003 docs) on the same machine. What complicates the matter is that I originally had all this working on W2K, and I can not remember whether the combination
RH7-W2K-Word2003 worked.
In any case - the combination RH7-WXP-Word 2003 currently does NOT work on my laptop.


For my colleague the scenario is different. The only difference is that he has a minitower and I have anIBM/Lenovo T60 laptop. We have the same standard Bosch-company PC setup.

(OK = RH generates Word 2003 print docs)

Colleague:
1) RH5-W2K-Word2003 OK
2) RH6-W2K-Word2003 OK
3) RH7-W2K-Word2003 OK (immediately after installation) then suddenly NOK, then OK again.
4) RH7-WXP-Word2003 OK

I know, stage 3 is rather mysterious - we are racking our brains to remember what changed in the configuration during that stage. Possibly it was an Adobe patch (RH or FM) of some kind, but a third colleague did not apply it and he is also OK with RH7-WXP-Word2003.

kind regards.

[nitabeck]

Yes, that is case for me on both my XP laptop (where RH7 can find Word) and on my Vista desktop (where RH7 can't find Word).

Nita